Close-Ups

• Example of a Midshot, abbreviated MS.sales person making an appointment image by Peter Baxter from Fotolia.com
  
  A close-up (abbreviated "CU") is when the camera focuses on just one character's face or other part of him, taking up the entire frame. These shots are used often when a character is talking, because it puts the viewer in an almost face-to-face context. When the camera zooms directly into part of a person's face or body, so that the frame shows nothing but his body, this is an extreme close-up, or ECU. Going in the opposite direction, a medium close-up (MCU) is halfway between a standard CU and a mid-shot--which shows part of the scene and the subject.
  
  

Wide Shots

• Example of a very wide shotEagle house in garden. Summer house image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
  
  Wide Shots (WS) give a great view of the entire area your subject is standing in, and you can see the person's entire body against the backdrop of his setting. As the camera zooms out, making the person almost unrecognizable but giving a good view of the entire area, it becomes a VWS, or very wide shot. Finally, an extreme wide shot (EWS) takes the camera out so that you can't even see the subject, but gives the viewer a clear picture of where the viewer is supposed to be--these are generally used as establishing shots. VWS are generally taken from cranes, so they're sometimes called crane shots, and EWS can be taken from helicopters and called aerial shots.
  
  

Multiple People Shots

• Example of a two shot (TS) which is almost an over-the-shoulder shot (OSS).girls talk image by Galina Barskaya from Fotolia.com
  
  Conversations between two people require a special camera angle to capture the intimacy of the conversations. A two shot (TS) is the most common way to show conversation: place both subjects in the same mid-shot. The next most familiar style is the over-the-shoulder shot, or OSS, which looks at the talking subject from the listener's perspective, quite literally over his shoulder. Some camera operators also set up the noddy shot, which is most common in interviews, and is taken from the perspective of the interviewee.
  
  

POV

• The main character is falling onto the tracks, and the camera follows his perspective, making this a POV shot.different pov of rail tracks into factory mine image by noel moore from Fotolia.com
  
  The first-person perspective is a useful way to put the audience almost directly in the character's shoes. The POV shot is pretty much what the character would see--as if she is actually holding the camera herself. POV, meaning point-of-view, shots are often used to heighten the intensity of a scenario.
  
  

Weather Shots

• Example of a weather shot.field image by Marek Kosmal from Fotolia.com
  
  If the subject is the weather itself, it is referred to as a weather shot. These images give the viewer a moment's reprieve from the action or drama of the film as well as establishing what's going on in the world around them. If the weather is wet and rainy, that will affect the mood of the film overall; a bright, shiny day on the other hand lightens the mood.